There is no I in Team
by BlueNynaeve
Summary: Cor and Aravis know they are right for each other. Now they must convince Cor's father by any means necessary.


**There is no I in Team**

_Cor and Aravis know they are right for each other. Now they must convince Cor's father, by any means necessary._

Cor looked at his father expectantly. They stood next to a detailed map of Archenland, blue and red pins joined by strings webbed across the small country and beyond its borders.

Every red pin was a lady Cor's father had suggested Cor marry. Every blue pin was a lord or other influential man Cor had countered as a pairing.

"You've thought about this a lot, my boy."

"Yes, I have, Father. Alliances are the most influential strategy Archenland has at its disposal. We're a small country smashed between two much bigger powers. Our greatest defense is our neutrality."

"So then, who will you marry, Cor?"

Cor looked at his father in amusement, "Aravis, of course."

His father, the king, chuckled. Except for the marked amount of time the prince and tarkheena spent in each other's company, their interactions could in no way be described as tender. "Cor, of everyone I might pair with Aravis, you are the least of the choices."

Cor tilted his head in query, "Why do you say that, father?"

"Perhaps because she always seems so angry with you, I am not sure I have ever seen the two of you without you getting into some sort of fight. But there are many noble men, including Corin, with whom she flirts and seems more comfortable than you. It is almost embarrassing sometimes how casual she is with touching others."

"She is comfortable with the court and with Corin, which is good as I am not always so free. She does not need or want to flirt with me most of the time, father."

"Yes. That's my point, my boy. Why wouldn't you look for a woman who will bolster your confidence, support your position as crown prince? Who would be an asset to you in court and in your duties as king?"

Cor looked amused again, and teased his father, "She is an asset to me in court. But how would her flirting with me do the rest?"

His father laughed, but with an edge of frustration, "Not all of it, Cor, however, a woman who argues with you at every turn is not conducive to a peaceful existence, and if the court is of one mind, then it is easier to move forward."

"But father, isn't a course of action easier to take, if all possible objections are discussed up front?"

"Only if the objections do not become rallying points - look what happened with the dam project when she argued with you."

"And have you seen her argue in public with me on anything major since then?"

Cor watched his father contemplate all of the arguments he had witnessed between the tarkheena and his elder son. "Is that why she seems so angry with you all of the time?"

"Yes, father. She is trying. It is not an easy thing for Aravis to curb her tongue when she is so worried."

"Again from her view, why would she marry you when you make her life so uncomfortable?"

"Father, Aravis isn't worried about me, she is worried for me. As she puts it, at least she'll be there when I make a mistake."

"And that heartens you? That she has so little confidence in you?"

"Father, I'm going to make mistakes. That is a given. But I will make fewer mistakes when she has analyzed the plan with me and I have a shorter distance to fall when she is there to smooth the landing."

"She is growing into an exceptional stateswoman, Cor, I will give you that. I just don't think she is the right woman for you to marry. Do you love her?"

"So I know that this will not help my case, but I am going to be honest with you. And you can thank Aravis for urging me to give you this answer. I don't know."

Cor quirked a smile as he watched surprise and confusion chase across his father's face. "She isn't my first thought as I wake, nor my last at night – that is usually my duties for the day. At random points during the day, the brush of her hand or the whiff of her perfume will fuel my lust, but no more so than a dozen other ladies at court."

"All I do know is that if I could never see her again, never hold her again, or even if I go too long without her attention, then I am falling. I am falling in the dark. I have no feet, no purpose, no feelings. I am prickling in pain and panic without her and numb and empty at my core."

"When I picture myself at your age, Father, I could and have imagined her dead. I prefer to picture her by my side, both of us older, still arguing incessantly. But I can imagine her gone, and I cannot stand the thought of doing so, without having a piece of her in our children."

"So I want your blessing, father. Because I cannot choose other than her - she is mine, and I am hers. There is no real choice for me without completely dismantling who I am."

The king was silent for a few minutes. Cor held steady, returning his father's gaze.

Finally the king broke the silence. "I don't like the idea of you so dependent on another. It is a weakness."

"Perhaps it would help if Aravis explained, Father." Without waiting for a response, Cor strode to the door and asked the footman waiting outside with the guards to fetch Aravis.

The father and son waited for the woman in question only a few minutes, passing the time by idly discussing Corin's latest antics in court. They quieted as they heard Aravis giving her assistant one last instruction before entering, "…out how the fish prices are doing in the lower market. Report back to me when I dress for dinner."

Aravis entered in a flurry of colorful silk skirts and sparkling jewels. Her slim stylish figure spoke of indolence and luxury, belying her ability to travel by horseback to distant cities faster than many of the daily mail riders. She greeted the king with a kiss on the cheek, foregoing the more correct curtsy in favor of affection. Her greeting to Cor accompanied an impatient frown, "What now, Cor?"

He answered her question with one of his own, "Fish prices, Aravis?"

"They are an indication of the health of the fish stock, Cor. There is no centralized fish distributor here in the capitol who might track prices throughout the building of the dam, so we'll have to do it ourselves. I'm trying to put together a plan for recording the data, so that the scribes can take over and we can measure the impact on our industries."

The king raised an eyebrow, impressed that Aravis refrained from repeating her arguments against the plan in the first place. Apparently now that the dam had been almost unanimously approved, she was no longer fighting it, but instead planning to make sure they would at least learn from the project for the next time.

Cor beamed at her and bowed over her hand, "Thank you, Aravis." Keeping her hand cradled in his, he turned to his father, "I do believe that illustrates my point nicely, Father".

Aravis ignored Cor's good mood and repeated her original question in curt tones, "For what reason did you call me, Cor? I am busy."

The king said it, before Cor could, "And yet you came, my dear."

"Of course." She drew out the last syllable, definite in her answer, but attempting to ascertain the nature of the king's statement.

"Well, my dear, I must confess that we were having a bit of a disagreement over the mother of Cor's heir. Cor has determined that you are the only person to hold that position, but I would like to hear your point of view."

Aravis pinned the king with a look long enough for Cor to start fidgeting. The king calmly returned her gaze, waiting on her reply.

"I am the richest and highest ranking candidate for your crown prince to marry, but also the most neutral. I am not currently in possession of any assets, although I am assured that my brother will release my dowry and extend trading contracts to Archenlanders once it is safe to do so. Which milestone, by the way, is also my marriage so that there is no further vying for my assets amongst Calormene tarkhans."

"However, this is not common knowledge, and from the point of view of Narnia, Archenland, and the rest of our border countries, we have taken pains to make it look like I have no future prospects."

Understanding dawned, as the king remembered a particularly embarrassing fight in front of the Narnian delegation about the seemingly random topic of Aravis' lack of funds.

"So when we wed, it will look like Cor has chosen someone close to him without appreciable assets. That he has chosen someone from his heart, and is entirely genuine in his purpose. Which he is, but now hopefully, everyone will believe it. And when the assets do eventually transfer, he will be more greatly valued and feared as a farsighted planner. Which he is not, but for now he has you and me."

Aravis continued, answering the king's concerned look, "Cor will eventually become better at planning, until then, you are still here and I think that I am not too bad at it."

The king cupped the tarkheena's tense shoulders, trying to read her motivations in her pugnacious stare, "But what about you, my dear? What are your motivations for making this match? As eventual queen, you are signing on to a lot of work and heartache."

Aravis did not soften at the king's personal concern, "I would have that anyway, contract or no. Cor and I are twinned hearts. And no, we do not think alike, we do not act alike, nor do we even have the same purpose. Because your crown prince's first thought must be of Archenland as a whole, but my first thought is entirely selfish – it is how to keep Cor at my side. And that means strengthening his goals and skills, it means aligning those around him to his purpose, and it means deepening the nation's assets."

"So yes, I am the best choice for marriage. Ignoring the wealth and trade from my brother, I will keep him alive for as long as possible and therefore the throne stable for as long as possible. I do not intend for him to die before me."

"And children?"

"We intend to have them. Hopefully we will, otherwise we're going to have to find someone willing to settle down with Corin."

The king laughed in agreement with her wry statement, allowing the tarkheena to move away. He then offered his own concession to the inevitable.

"All right. You two may marry, but assuage my curiosity first. Aravis, why do you flirt with everyone but Cor?" the king asked, hoping to better understand his soon-to-be daughter-in-law.

"I flirt with Cor. I flirt with him all the time." Aravis' artfully enhanced face scrunched in confusion.

Cor's grin split his face as he teased, "Aravis, no one can see but the two of us, the difference between when you flirt with me and when we fight."

Aravis tossed her long mane over her shoulder, stepping up to challenge, and glowering through her lashes at her new fiancé. "Half the time, you cannot tell either, Cor."

The crown prince swept her up in his arms and dipped her in a ritualized dance move, forcing her to cling to his broad shoulders, "I know afterwards, my lovely."

Aravis ceded this particular argument in favor of thoroughly kissing him back.

Their sole audience member could tell that he had been temporarily forgotten. His heir now off the list of eligible bachelors, the king wandered over to the map to contemplate just who might be willing to wed Corin.


End file.
